


Turning Out

by mintweather



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, Fix-It, M/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Jeyna, Post-War, Pre-War, brief solangelo, side jasico
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-03-13 21:52:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintweather/pseuds/mintweather
Summary: Jason was taken and left ash in Reyna's heart- her partner, her best friend, her brother, was gone. But he remembers now, she knows, because at her firm mutter of his name, he looks at her like he's fifteen again. Fifteen and standing in front of her desk, nervous and awkward and hormonal as he rasps about the boy from the legion he'd kissed a few hours earlier. Her eyes suddenly feel wet.An exploration of Jason and Reyna's friendship before and during the war, and the steps they took to fix it after.





	1. Before

It starts with Lupa.

 

Jason is a mere toddler when warm arms leave him in cold, dewy grass, and blue eyes are staring up into silver ones, piercing into his very soul. Jason does not look away, save for when Lupa’s ear twitches and it catches his attention. Then he takes a good look at her snout, the color of her chocolate red fur. Impulsively, he reaches out to touch her nose with his little palm, and she nudges it, smelling her new pup. He’s a strong one. 

 

It’s six years later where an eight year old Reyna will stand in the same place Jason did, facing the stony ruins of the Wolf House and staring Lupa down, having no place else to go after the fall of Circe’s Island. 

 

And four years after that, when she is twelve, she heads to the Legion, where she meets Jason for the first time.

 

He is shorter than her, but with way more experience, because he easily bests her in combat. Challenging Jason Grace is fun, and he has no problem using his wolf stare on his own comrades, she discovers, when they poke and prod at him for being a part of the Fifth Cohort. Supposedly they’re losers, failures, an embarrassment to the Legion, but Jason wears his badge like it’s the highest honor he could hold. 

 

Neither of them have any friends, really, so Reyna is not surprised when Jason settles in next to her on the bus on a field trip for the kids in the Legion. 

 

_ No child is on duty until they’re fourteen, _ the rules read.  _ They must choose a Cohort and attend the Roman Academy, followed by training under their Cohort after school. Weekends are free days after they have finished their chores. _

 

“I thought you would have friends,” Jason says, starting the conversation quietly as the other children roar around them. 

 

Reyna opens her Tupperware full of apple slices. “I scared them all away.”

 

Jason watches her crunch one in her mouth and he blinks. “Me too.”

 

She holds a slice out to him, and he takes it in his fingers. “Do you have any peanut butter?”

 

“Eat it.”

 

He rolls his eyes but does it anyway. It’s tart. Sour. He should’ve asked someone else for peanut butter.

 

“Do you want to room together at one of the cabins they’ve rented at the campsite?” Reyna finally asks.

 

“Boys and girls aren’t allowed to.”

 

“That’s for the on duty soldiers.”

 

He shrugs then, nods.

 

Jason and Reyna spend that weekend hanging around each other because there’s no one else, really. Pre-teens and children race around the campgrounds as there’s so many activities to do: rock climbing, volleyball, soccer. Deeper in the woods where most of them are heading, there’s horseback riding and rafting. A small park for the younger kids is nestled behind the chaperones’ cabin. It’s a good place for the Legions tots to get some rest from training while still remaining active. Reyna and Jason hang around by the lake, the wooden boards creaking under the weight of both of their footsteps. 

 

She’s young, and wears a plain black one piece, the golden  _ SPQR _ logo etched into the chest area. Jason in turn wears purple swimming trunks he also bought at the Camp’s gift shop. They aren't allowed to go out into town alone until they're fourteen, so they do their best. 

 

Reyna’s flip flops slap against the bottom of her feet as she walks, and Jason’s barefoot, a popsicle in his hand, the sticky juice dripping over his fingers.

 

“You have a sweet tooth,” Reyna realizes.

 

“I don’t eat that much sugar,” Jason says defensively, but Reyna smiles. 

 

“When you do, you stuff your face.”

 

“I saw you raiding the cabinet in the rec room for Nutella once while I was going to go to the bathroom,” he accuses, pointing at her. “It was like midnight.”

 

“It was  _ ten! _ ” she growls.

 

“It was past curfew! I’ll tell on you!”

 

“You snitch!” she takes off her flip flop and Jason turns to run to the end of the small boardwalk, Reyna on his heels until there’s nowhere else to go. He looks at her over his shoulder. “Any last words?”

 

“You’ll miss.” He looks nervous.

 

“I’m top of our class in Arche—“ he reaches for her while she’s distracted, popsicle falling to the floor with a  _ splat, _ and she shrieks as he grabs onto her shoulders and does his best to shove her into the water instead, only her hand snaps out and grabs onto his blond hair.

 

He shouts  _ ”Ow!” _ as they splash in, and when they surface they’re giggling, pretending they’re children of Neptune and using their hands to force waves of water towards one another.

 

Reyna’s lost her flip flop somewhere but she doesn’t care too much, because it feels like such a long time since she’s laughed.

 

***

 

Jason is claimed after she is, the symbol atop his head, the electricity caressing his body. He’s thirteen, and he’s already bringing honor to the Fifth Cohort, building them back up again. He’s an admirable trainee and an exceptional athlete, so Reyna guesses no one is really surprised when the symbol shows up atop his head. It just gives everyone more of an excuse to pile expectations onto his back. 

 

He can already feel it happening. Reyna says nothing when he retreats from her, taking time for himself and focusing on his duties for about a week or so. He meets her later outside of her barracks, just as they’re about to shut down for the night. 

 

“Ten minutes,” her centurion tells her when she sees him, and Reyna nods, turns to him.

 

Jason’s quiet, staring at the floor. She doesn’t speak because she knows he wants to start.

 

“Sorry,” he forces out finally. “Sorry. For being weird.” 

 

“It’s alright. I know there was stuff you had to deal with.”

 

“I missed your birthday,” Jason says, and he looks a little guilty. “We had plans.”

 

“We wouldn’t have been able to do them until tomorrow anyways. It was a week day, remember?”

 

“Still, I finished all my duties early and I couldn’t...” he struggles to articulate his words. “I couldn’t...”

 

“Jason, it’s okay,” she says, her voice firm. “Don’t be so guilty, it’s just a birthday.”

 

“It’s yours,” Jason says, as if that’s explanation, reason enough. She frowns, and crosses her arms over her chest. “But... I guess you’re right.” He sighs, “I bribed Dakota and he went into town for me.”

 

“For what?”

 

He takes something out of his pocket. It’s a brownie wrapped in plastic wrap, and on top of it is a candle, snapped in half. It looks a little crushed, pressed down. “Gwen’s always talking about this bakery in New Rome. We could go sometime next year. When we become soldiers.”

 

She smiles big at him, a dimple in her cheek. “Okay. Thank you.”

 

“I’m gonna sing happy birthday.”

 

Her smile drops immediately. “Jason, you don’t have to—“

 

“I’m gonna do it.” And he does. It’s  _ terrible, _ it’s only happy birthday but his singing is  _ terrible, _ and she still grins, whether it’s because she’s humored or because she’s happy, she doesn’t know. Jason finishes with rosy cheeks, but he’s smiling because she looks like she liked it. 

 

“Okay,” she says finally, “goodnight, Jace.” 

 

“Night.” She steps forward to hug him, and he wraps his arms around her. They stay that way until her centurion is stepping out again, her eyebrows raised.

 

“Alright lovebirds. Time for bed.” The tease makes them both flush. Reyna changes her mind on sharing the brownie with him before she’s heading back into her room. Jason watches her go. “You too, Grace. Your centurion is probably scouring the field right now looking for you.” Jason nods as he leaves.

 

People start talking. As Jason and Reyna grow into young teenagers, people start giving them looks whenever they walk a little too close together, whenever they spend time at New Rome to watch a movie or have lunch or do karaoke just by themselves. 

 

Jason gives Reyna her first kiss when they’re fourteen, his lips touching hers shyly, inexperienced. He tastes like popcorn from the movies and smells of mint shampoo. The war’s coming, they both know. The gods are stirring and every day they need more troops out on the field. Jason, especially, has been put into a leadership role despite becoming a legionnaire recently. Still, the two show promise, and things go much, much better than expected for their first few battles. They’re respected lieutenants now.

 

Reyna wishes she could say Jason’s lips and his smile were a heady escape from all of that, but they’re not.

 

Jason frowns when he pulls back.

 

“I feel like I’m kissing my sister.”

 

“That’s gross. Me too.” 

 

And oh, how they  _ smile _ at each other.

 

No, Jason’s not an escape from all of this tension, these responsibilities. But he is relief. He is her comrade, and they can shoulder this weight together.

 

“Let’s never do this again,” Reyna says, and Jason nods. They hold hands, unbothered now as they walk back to the barracks for curfew. The tension, the weight of those expectations are gone.

 

***

 

After the Titan War, they become praetors, as Jason struck down Krios and led the Fifth Cohort into battle, and Reyna stepped up as centurion once her own was killed. At the mere age of fifteen they’re tasked with leading an army, being responsible for it, and it’s something they take very seriously. The politics involved with being Praetor are something that seems to drain them constantly, as the Council never stops fighting, arguing, and they sit quietly until they finally run out of steam and shut up. 

 

They’re a good team, Reyna and Jason. 

 

They move into the Praetor’s Villa together because there’s no reason for them to stay in separate Cohorts (though they still are responsible for their own), and painting the walls of his room with Reyna has to be one of the highlights of his military life. They have a lot more freedom now, but they must use it wisely.

 

*

 

Reyna takes on the role of cook until she can teach Jason how to without him burning anything he touches. She thanks the gods he’s a quick learner.

 

*

 

Sometimes, when they have nightmares of the war, of Krios’s face looming in their heads, they sleep in the same bed, making a border of pillows between them so something awkward doesn’t happen, as Reyna had found out the hard way that Jason’s a cuddler.

 

*

 

He comes home one day with a flushed face and a gleam in his eye, arms crossed over his chest as he tries working up the nerve to tell her something. Reyna’s stuck doing paperwork in the office, and she hears his footsteps pacing up and down the hall; it amuses her. 

 

She’s finally turning off the light and calling it a day when Jason barrels into the room, a defiant look on his face. 

 

“I kissed Santiago Moya from the Third Cohort,” he gasps out. Her smile drops, her eyes wide with surprise. “He caught me staring and he asked me what I needed and he was smiling really big and his eyes went to my lips I swear and I kissed him—“

 

“Jason, slow down,” she says, and he nods. “What did he do?”

 

“He stared at me and started smiling too and I told him it was an accident and I ran.”

 

“You’re praetor.”

 

“So? So??”

 

“Coward,” she grins. 

 

“Reyna!” He wheezes, and starts pacing. “What if he files a report? What if I lose his respect? What if he notices I’ve been staring at other guys too?” And her best friend stands there, fifteen and awkward and hormonal despite his constant stoic, stony appearance. 

 

“So you’re gay?”

 

“I like girls too! I don’t know! I...” He fumbles.

 

“Bi.”

 

“I thought you were done with your work.”

 

“No, you idiot. Bisexual.”

 

“Oh!” Jason pauses. “Maybe. Maybe I am.”

 

Jason starts a relationship with another boy. He is too dedicated to his work, to time with Reyna because they already have so little. The boy leaves him. Reyna comforts him when he sits glumly in his bed, leans against his shoulder when he asks for a tissue with a wavering voice, knows that when he dumps it into the wastebasket it will not be stained with snot, but with tears. It’s his first heartbreak, but not his first love.

 

Things go back to normal.

 

***

 

They fall into a routine again until Reyna has another nightmare and shows up at Jason’s door, knocking lightly. He does not answer, even though she knows he’s a light sleeper. When she opens the door, he is gone.

 

She shouts his name to see if he’s in the bathroom, turns Principia upside down looking for him, running through the many private halls reserved for them and throwing open doors. He’s not in the office catching up on work. He’s not in the small fitness room exercising. He’s not in their kitchen grabbing a snack. He’s not… he’s not home. So, clad in her black tank top and pajama pants, she heads towards the front of the villa, checks things out there and watches the many trophies, their extravagant, shared desk in the center, the bowl of jellybeans he put there for his cravings and nervous cadets when he and Reyna were first promoted. Everything is untouched. She rushes outside where the nightly guards are stationed and they turn to her in surprise.

 

“Praetor Grace,” she says, firm, but they can see the panic in her eyes. “Is he here? Did he go out?”

 

They turn towards each other, share a glance.

 

“No, Praetor Arellano.”

 

It’s almost enough to make her knees buckle. 

 

“Are you alright?” the other says in alarm. She ignores the question.

 

“Call…call a state of emergency,” she whispers. “Jason is missing.” 

 

And she turns, goes back inside so they will not see her cry.

 

***

 

She gets used to bearing the brunt of the work without him, although it takes many late nights, many days where she falls asleep at her desk doing enough paperwork, reviewing enough requests for the both of them. She goes to bed late and wakes up early. Sometimes she wonders if it’s really worth it before she remembers that she loves the legion, loves Jason enough to do it for them. When the scouts return with no news, the trail cold, she sleeps in his bed, bites the inside of her cheek so she does not sob. Her tears soak into his pillows. Over time, she learns to try and move on, because in the mortal world they would have declared him dead by now.

 

And he is dead, she thinks when Jason shows up with a pretty girl on his arm months later. He is dead. The Jason Grace she knew was no more. Percy Jackson steps forward beside her as his own girlfriend sprints towards them to promptly judo flip him onto his back, but Reyna’s eyes are on this amnesiac, new Jason. The Jason that keeps referring to this  _ Leo _ as his best friend. The Jason that knows they were close in the past but does not seem to care, does not want to ask, the Jason that looked her in the eyes and asked her what good spots in New Rome there were so he could show this Piper around, as if he and Reyna had not discovered all of its secrets together already.

 

She wishes the jealousy would not curl in her gut as sharp as it does, because Jason deserves to be happy. But he was. With Reyna. With her. With his sister. 

 

But she is not his sister anymore, and he is not her person. She had lost her family again, and again, there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  
  
  
  



	2. During

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *** = Scene & Setting change  
> * = Scene change

Jason Grace and Percy Jackson leave in a flurry of fire and angry Romans, as Leo had been possessed by an eidolon from aboard the ship, and had reigned hell on New Rome with cannons. They leave her to deal with the sizzling wreckage of New Rome.

 

The Senate tells her that she and Praetor Jackson made the terrible mistake of bringing the Greeks here, and since Praetor Jackson was absent, it was her duty to clean up after him. So she does, not because she has to but because she wants to, because she needs some sort of distraction from all of this overwhelming information, from Jason’s abandonment and from the skipping of her heart when Annabeth Chase’s grey eyes had focused on her brown ones in the garden. She wishes her Jason were back so she could tell him about it, wonders if it was as confusing for him too, when he figured out he liked boys.

 

She wonders if he even remembers his bisexuality, if he even feels it.

 

Yeah. She needs to take the edge off somehow. This rebuilding project will work.

 

***

 

“Hey,” Jason says, a little nervous. Lately he’s been an idiot whenever it came to respecting their past together.

 

“Hello Jason,” Reyna says, and stands up properly, tearing her eyes away from the setting sun on the horizon and laying them on his. As scared as she’s been of confronting him since this whole thing started, she’s never been one to shy away from him, not after everything they had been through before Jason got amnesia. It unnerves him a little bit, because he hasn’t regained all of his memories yet. 

 

“Can I talk to you?”

 

“Are we not speaking now?” She spreads her arms out in gesticulation, slight smile on her face, but Jason doesn’t smile with her. She drops them, already having prepared herself for that possibility. “What is it?”

 

Jason sticks his hands into his pockets, skin on fire. “I’m sorry for... treating you the way I did and being so oblivious back in New Rome.”

 

Reyna shrugs, regards him carefully. “You didn’t remember me.” It’s brushing him off. He’s finally talking to her and she’s brushing him off. Maybe it’s her fear controlling her, or maybe it’s because she’s finally started getting used to being without him.

 

“I should have.”

 

“Don’t be stupid— you can’t blame yourself for what Hera did to you.” She sighs because he’s dumb and that hasn’t changed, and turns back to the sunset, the light casting a lovely glow on her face, illuminating her eyes. 

 

“You were my best friend. I don’t understand why... I don’t know why Percy got to remember Annabeth and I didn’t get to remember you. I think about it a lot and it makes me angry.”

 

Reyna is quiet at this revelation, but she would be lying if she said her heart wasn’t happy. “Maybe it was for the better.”

 

“Or maybe it wasn’t. When this is all over, we can—“

 

“Jason?” Nico says behind him. Jason turns, and he shuts down immediately at the sight of him, staring like a fool as Nico’s eyes pass over him like an afterthought and focus on Reyna. Reyna doesn’t miss it. Something had happened between Jason and the Ambassador of Pluto while she wasn’t around. Then again, it’s none of her business. “You ready to go?”

 

“Yes,” Reyna says, points to the harness and the statue a ways away. 

 

“I’ll strap myself in and then we can set off.”

 

Reyna nods as he walks away, then looks at Jason briefly. “Goodbye.”

 

“Okay,” he croaks. 

 

She pauses before she leans in but then she’s hugging him close, impulsive and needy. Her skin is warm, her embrace caring. A deep sense of loss settles itself in Jason’s chest, making him feel like someone’s launched a bomb at it and he’s all empty and cold now, shivers running up his body. He doesn’t know her anymore and he misses her. 

 

“Stay alive,” is all she says when she pulls back, her hand on his shoulder, and she goes with Nico. They’re gone in mere seconds.

 

***

 

Nico di Angelo is small and lovely when he sleeps, long thick eyelashes dusting against his cheekbones, his lips parted slightly as he breathes. His thick black hair is a mess on his head, curly locks tickling his forehead, his jaw. He is one of the most fascinating boys she’s ever met, and this mission is a pleasant distraction from her last interaction with the Argo 2 crew, or rather, the three stooges that were Leo, and gooey Jason with his gooey girlfriend Piper. 

 

He hadn’t talked to her when Piper was near, she noticed.

 

But Nico is different. When he is quiet it’s because he’s got nothing to say. The walls around his heart are thicker than Reyna’s, but Reyna and her dogs can already tell that he is kind, he is selfless, he is strong and determined. He hides behind a veil of hostility and silence, but Reyna trusts him from the start, and he is sometimes irritated by her because he doesn’t know why. Most times, though, he watches her, eyes big, the ghost of a childlike curiosity sifting through him. 

 

They face Lycaon, and when a wolf is going to sink its teeth into her neck from behind, he protects her. The jaws clamp around his forearm instead, and he slashes at the monster before it falls to the ground. Afterwards, they fight back to back, gash after gash embedded into their bodies until they are able to find an opening and shadow travel away, the moon fading in the sky as the sun rises.

 

_ Comrade, _ Reyna thinks as they collapse from exhaustion onto the stone floor of some temple in Portugal, her chest heaving. She looks at Nico and Nico looks at her, dark eyes worn. When she smiles he does too, but it is awkward, his lips unused to the action.  _ You are my comrade. _

 

And Nico? Nico’s starting to trust her too.

 

***

 

When Nico finds out Orion is hunting them during one of his many nightmares, Reyna touches his shoulder and tells him they can handle it together, like they have so many other battles on this journey. Nico does not flinch away from her touch, or drop his gaze. He merely stares at her, believing. 

 

She faces off with her murderous father in Puerto Rico, and Nico is there by her side throughout it all. They’re starting to move as a unit, become familiar with each other’s fighting techniques. Nico fights like an underdog, a mix of vicious offense and shaky defense. 

 

When her father’s ghost fades, her knees buckle, and Nico holds her as she trembles, pale. She asks him why and he is quiet for a long time before he timidly admits that he hopes she thinks of him as a friend, like he fears her rejection. Before, Reyna’s only friend had ever been Jason. Now it’s different. She has Annabeth, with her cool grey eyes and sure smile. She is not so lonely anymore. And neither is Nico.

 

“Yes,” she croaks, “ _ Niccolò. _ You are dear to me.” She doesn’t know if she imagines the gleam in his eyes that he blinks away. But today she had laid her heart bare to him, her deepest, most shameful secret, and he had readily accepted her. He is dear to her.

 

Reyna is not allowed to rest for long; Orion waits outside, and surprisingly enough, her sister does too, standing tall. Many of the Hunters had been slaughtered in their battle with Orion. She guesses it is time for the Amazons to take over while the last of them regroup. She doesn’t miss the tension Nico has when he’s around Thalia Grace, Jason’s real older sister, some unresolved dispute in their way. She also doesn’t miss the way Thalia’s hand lingers before she’s removing it from Reyna’s lower back, the interested gleam of sharp blue eyes. Reyna’s face warms.

 

Orion mocks her, seems to throw Jason in her face over and over, only he completely misses Jason and Reyna’s true nature. He says he has scorned her, which feels like pouring salt into her open wounds; he says she was not good enough for Percy Jackson. She doesn’t care for Percy Jackson as anything more than a comrade. 

 

She tells Orion that friendship is not something he understands, nor is brother or sisterhood. He is a dishonorable, ugly man, unable to take no for an answer, and no amount of bullying he did would change that. She tells him she is not happy about a lot of things, she is not happy with Jason, but she accepts it because ultimately it is not her  _ choice, _ and if Orion had ever truly loved Artemis he would have let her be free. 

 

Hylla takes over for them at that point, Orion howling with rage as her sister’s strength surges. Nico, who had been watching carefully, uses the opportunity to take Reyna’s arm and escape with her.

 

***

 

South Carolina is a new chapter in their book. Reyna watches over Nico as he sleeps in his new horrendous Hawaiian t-shirt, adjusts his harness carefully so as not to wake him even though she knows he’d sleep through a car accident. The wind is chilly, and she hopes she is not seeing things when her hand passes through his wrist, as if he is a ghost. Where his arm is supposed to be, there is icy air. She thinks about putting her cape on him when she realizes she doesn’t know if he’d appreciate that.

 

But they are friends.

 

Nico curls up tighter under the weight of her cloak, and she stands to look for more things that will warm him up in the quiet, secluded trailer park.

 

When Nico wakes up, he is still exhausted, so she insists he rests. Despite him being dead tired ( _ ha ha Reyna, you’re so funny for that one, _ he says), their banter is more open, more willing. Nico tells her of his zombie chauffeur, a stupidly sweet attempt by his father, Hades, to bond with him. She watches him close his eyes as she threads her fingers through his hair, his head in her lap, and she smiles at the story. She tells Nico what happened with her father and why she had never wanted to return to Puerto Rico. His eyes never leave hers when her voice wavers briefly, when she remembers how terrified she was of him.

 

Nico closes his eyes when she finishes and nods, her secret another he keeps safe behind his walls.

 

Bryce Lawrence comes to them soon after, all cruel rage and evil taunts, a small battalion of undead behind him. He says he will drag Reyna back to New Rome by her hair. He says he can’t wait to sink his blade into her flesh and watch the blood swell out of the gashes. He says she will be charged with patricide, an unforgivable crime. He says she will either spend the rest of her life rotting in jail or wandering the earth alone, hunted by monsters, and maybe Bryce will hunt her too, do unspeakable things to her outside of the jurisdiction of the legion.

 

And Nico erupts.

 

His rage is volcanic, and it washes over all of them, his pain chilling them to the bone. He says nothing, but he  _ screams, _ and memories flash through Reyna’s head. She has to touch her temples as an excruciating migraine beats her down, and when she cracks open watery eyes, she finds the grass beneath her is frosted and dead, the temperature so cold she shivers. Shadows grow, and she is not sure what hurts more, Nico’s past or the migraine.

 

He was happy, she realizes, because even though she doesn’t want to intrude on his privacy, he’s forcing her to unwittingly. He was happy and young and believed the world was safe and mysterious, the discovery of monsters and magic sparkling in his head. And then his sister left him, telling him she would visit, and then she died. He’d exploded for mere minutes until he realized what he was, and ran, horrified. He was ten and in the end, no one had fought for him.

 

So he fought for himself as a child. Retreated, because he was scared that if he trusted, gave himself to anyone else, he would lose them too. She watches him, just a little boy as he lugged around his heavy black sword, training with skeletal warriors. She watches him watch from the shadows, hears the whispers the other children would say when he was in camp. She watches him say that he has no one, and then turn disbelieving brown eyes on Hazel Levesque and Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson…

 

_ I had a crush on Percy, that’s the truth. _ The words crack through her like a whip, and her elbow buckles, the arm that’s holding her up failing her as her upper half finally falls into a bed of ice. His most painful confession. His heart laid bare.

 

And there, Jason, watching it all happen with flickering eyes and a steady hand, looking like the man Reyna remembers leading at her side, and not the stranger he is now. Nico pushes him away too, and the images fade into  _ her her her, _ flashes of Reyna and Hazel, a rare warmth in the endless darkness that he considered his life.

 

He is strong. He is selfless. He is sweet. He is ugly. He is cold. He is terrifying. He is the son of Hades.

 

Reyna gasps as it ends, and her tears drip into the earth. When she finally manages to look up, he stands in front of Bryce, Bryce wide-eyed and terrified, his cheeks wet and his nose runny. His battalion is gone and he himself is almost see through, until Reyna realizes he is nothing but a ghost. Nico’s voice snaps into focus.

 

“You’re already dead,” he says, and his breath steams in the air, ironically warm. “You’re a ghost with no tongue, no memory. You won’t be sharing any secrets.”

 

“No!” he cries, “I am Bryce Lawrence! I am alive! Please,” he croaks, a coward. “Please.”

 

Nico tilts his head as if he doesn’t understand the word, black eyes big.

 

“Who are you?”

 

Bryce looks at her from across the field, lips parting, but then he is gone, his features fading, his voice nothing but a mere, indistinguishable whisper among billions of other souls. 

 

“Begone,” Nico says, and the earth swallows him.

 

He turns back to her, to his sister, and sees that she is safe. Then he collapses.

 

*

 

When he finally wakes up, he’s half submerged into the earth, a trio of nymphs surrounding him. Reyna feels like she can finally breathe, the terror in her veins that her friend would not come back to her fading away. He’d been in a coma for three days. Three days, and she’d had to call upon the aid of nymphs in the forest, nearly getting onto her knees and begging them to help bring him back. He’d been disappearing, Nico. His arms had disappeared. When she had touched his face her fingers had gone through and had nearly been frozen because of the cold air in place of skin.

 

He does not speak to her as she removes his bandages, the nymphs leaving once they tell her he’ll be okay.

 

“I saw it,” she begins, and Nico notes the bags under her eyes, akin to his own. “Your memories. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to, but you…”

 

He focuses on a tree past her head, its leaves rustling peacefully in the summer winds.

 

“You sent Bryce to the Underworld, and you scared me. You scared me.”

 

“Yeah,” he whispers, waiting for the blow. He closes his eyes.

 

“But I know you were just trying to protect me.”

 

“We’re friends,” but he says it like it’s a question.

 

“We are. We’re friends. And I trust you. So thank you.” And at this, Nico cracks open his eyes, brown in the sweet sun.

 

“You trust me?”

 

“Of course I do.”

 

“You’re not upset.”

 

“You almost died and left me with a killer headache, so yes. I’m upset. But we are still friends and I still care about you. You are my comrade, and even though I can handle myself I’m not stupid enough to be ungrateful when someone else steps in to protect me.”

 

“I care about you too,” Nico says, and there’s a warm flutter in his heart, alien. Hope is a strange feeling.

 

Nico calls on Mrs. O’Leary to take them the rest of the way to Camp, and the large hellhound seems enamored with Reyna immediately, sensing she is a friend of both Percy and Nico. It’s a day’s journey, most of which Reyna spends sleeping, since she’d been keeping watch so that nothing would hurt Nico while he was in his coma. Nico tells her that while he had been asleep, his father had told him if he shadow traveled once more, he’d be completely lost to the shadows, so it couldn’t be an option. Reyna wholeheartedly agrees.

 

***

 

Nico stands in front of an enraged Octavian now, an unconscious Michael Kahale slung across his back as Reyna faces Orion off. They’re both surrounded by legionnaires, and even further away, Octavian’s monstrous allies. When Octavian raises his voice to shout, Dakota and Leila come up to Nico’s sides, claiming they have orders from Reyna. At this, the legion stands at attention, keen on hearing news from their former leader.

 

Still, Octavian shoots them down, attempts to retaliate, and in response a few soldiers in the back stir trouble with the monsters on their side, inciting a riot. Nico scatters with everyone else, and when he catches Dakota’s eye, Dakota holds his arms out for Mike’s body. 

 

“I’ll take care of him,” he says, “you get Reyna.” Nico nods, and after a few skirmishes he is finally able to break away from the shouts and messes of people, the clashing with monsters, so that he can disappear into the strawberry fields and sneak his way into Camp Half Blood.

 

*

 

Reyna rolls out of the way as an arrow sails towards her, Orion’s mocking words in her ear. They never take root in her, though, never shake her. Maybe at one time, maybe at the very beginning of all of this, when Jason had disappeared, she would have faltered. But not now. She stands firm, tall, and it enrages him.

 

A slash across his chest and there is ichor flowing from the wound. She somersaults out of the way as Orion gets frustrated and starts using up arrows like he’s a child eating candy. 

 

There’s a whisper in her head, a warmth in her veins, like a caress.

 

_ You’re an admirable warrior, an admirable leader. You have treated my daughter well. I grant you my blessing, Reyna Ávila Ramirez Arellano. _

 

Reyna gasps, and then she feels that familiar tickle in the back of her head, the voice that is her mother too.

 

After that, it doesn’t take long to strike Orion down.

 

She watches his body sink into the water of the Long Island Sound, his bow disappearing with him. She turns back, looks at the Athena Parthenos Nico had discarded in order to get Michael safely back to the Roman camp since Tyson had knocked him out. He’d taken Mrs. O’Leary with him.

 

Tension is brewing. She needs to make her way to Camp Half Blood now, to stop the war that would inevitably begin at dawn. Reyna looks up at the starry night sky, the crickets chirping peacefully before she picks up the heavy statue with a grunt, muscles in her arms flexing as she slowly begins making her way through the northern woods and into enemy territory.

 

*

 

Reyna sees it, sees Jason’s mood shift in the battlefield when they’re back to back, his instincts from the past taking over, his trust in her total. Absolute. He looks at her over his shoulder, the barest hint of a nod, his blue eyes hard and familiar, disciplined.

 

It feels like she’s finally broken free from the water that had been drowning her.

 

It’d taken the Seven mere minutes to arrive from all the way in Athens, Percy with a streak of blood under his nose and Annabeth with a cut on her thigh. Percy had accidentally woken Gaea, she discovers, and resolves to slap him silly the next time she sees him. Careless, careless. As Reyna clears her side of monsters for a few moments of fresh air, she turns and finds Jason still duking it out with a spiteful chimera. He rolls out of the way, light on his feet, but as Reyna readies herself to aid him she can tell he’s not completely the same, not entirely the same warrior as he was in the Legion. He’s... looser. A risk taker. Seeing him fight is more exhilarating than it was before. Reyna hadn’t known that was possible. 

 

The chimera explodes into sand before Reyna can leap in beside Jason, and then she watches him straighten. He hesitates, and it’s a quick flash, but it’s  _ hesitation, _ and in battle, in war, it can mean death. He seems fixated on something, straining to see. Stupidly, she only just notices the glasses perched on his nose, and wants to smile.

 

“Jason?” she says, reaching for his shoulder, and Jason lets out a noise akin to a soft wheeze before life is breathed back into him, body relaxing with relief, eyes lightening to a sky blue under the sun. She follows his gaze.

 

There, across the battlefield, is her Nico. 

 

He’s striking down monsters with ease, a victorious laugh tearing out of his throat, dark eyes triumphant as his lengthy hair whips around his face.

 

_ Oh, _ she thinks, startled, before she takes a step back, gives him room to breathe. She hadn’t expected that. Every interaction with Jason was a surprise these days. She hadn’t even known Jason cared for him enough to be so affected in battle.

 

“Jason!” Comes the battle cry, and Leo Valdez soars above them on his mechanical dragon, pointing at the rising figure near the strawberry fields— Gaea. Jason snaps out of it, turns towards him, but before he can fly, Reyna touches his arm.

 

“He’s doing well,” she tells him, and he gives her a grateful look before he’s gone, flying into the sky to look for Piper.

 

As Piper, Leo, and Jason face off with Gaea in the skies, Reyna keeps to the ground, reuniting with Nico just as he and Michael Kahale watch Octavian go sailing into the air, screaming. They, plus a blond she’s never met before, stand in a bit of muted horror as the fiery ammunition from the onager is made more deadly by Leo’s heat, roaring as it leaps from his fingertips from atop Festus. 

 

Octavian burns in magnificent fireworks as it collides into Gaea. It’s the final blow before she’s sinking, sinking, spread as thin as her husband. 

 

A cheer rises from the very souls of the united camps, a renewed vigor in the children’s hearts, and they fight tooth and nail to ward the last of the monsters off, ensuring they scatter. Nico still looks up at the sky, where Octavian was, an unreadable look on his face, and Reyna is going to put her hand on his shoulder when the blond guy beats her to it.

 

“Snap out of it, di Angelo,” he says, “we still have work to do.”

 

Nico tears his shoulder away from the blond, not comfortable with being handled by a stranger. “Don’t touch me.” The blond rolls his eyes. Reyna decides to be wary of him. 

 

“You good?” Reyna says, and Nico nods, relieved to see she’s okay. She smiles at him. “I’m going to meet up with Annabeth.”

 

“Things look good here. Will and I will search the woods to make sure no one’s lingering.” Will looks pleased at this, and gives Reyna a toothy grin before he and Nico are heading off alone.

 

“Good luck,” she says to the wind, and doesn’t look back at them as she makes her way to the boardwalk, cutting down the few monsters in her way.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank u guys so much for reading!! I love y'all!!! Last chapter will be up next week but im considering extending it to 4 chapters. Leave a kudos or comment if u enjoyed! I also accept constructive criticism (: <3 ALSO I feel like the paragraphs are too spaced apart even tho its one space egh agh


	3. Interlude

“No casualties but one,” says a familiar voice besides Reyna, but she doesn’t see him until he slips out of the shadows. The darkness is like thick liquid reluctant to let his body go as he emerges from the wall of the Athena Cabin. “And a few severe injuries.”

 

“A record,” Reyna says, and Nico settles in next to her, knees pulled up to his chest as her own are spread out in front of her, one leg crossed over the other, arms over her chest. She suddenly reaches out and slaps him upside the head. “Idiot. You didn’t think I’d notice your shadow traveling? You’re supposed to be resting.”

 

Nico shrugs, the hint of a smile on his face. “It was a short distance. I didn’t want to walk through everyone.” He motions with his chin towards the massive amount of demigods circled around the campfire, laughing and talking with one another. The Athena Parthenos is visible from here, Peleus curled around her base at Half Blood Hill. It’s the night after the war ended, finally. 

 

“So what are you going to do?” Reyna says, and moves closer to him. He nods his consent and she leans her head on his shoulder. 

 

Nico is unsure as he looks down at his lap. “I don’t know,” he admits. “Jason wants me to stay.”

 

“You’ve talked,” Reyna says with some surprise, and Nico nods. She remembers glancing at the two of them near the beach the day before, afternoon sun golden on their skin. She’d looked away when Jason surged forward to wrap Nico up in his arms like he was something precious, something to treasure. Nico held on awkwardly, not quite sure where to put his arms. 

 

Jason’s good mood didn’t last long. There was ash in his mouth and salt in his eyes when the news of Leo’s whereabouts arrived. 

 

“Yeah. Hazel needs me too. Leo was her best friend,” says Nico. Neither Reyna or Nico were close to him, but they appreciate his immense sacrifice. Nico still acts strange about it, words at the tip of his tongue he doesn’t want to let go of.

 

The Seven smile wetly at the campfire, all but Hazel, Piper, and Jason. Hazel’s hunched over, Frank’s supportive hand on her back as he converses quietly with someone else. Jason merely leans against the bottom bleacher, looking like he’s just been through a natural disaster. He’s all blotchy cheeks and purple smudges under his eyes, shrinking into Piper’s side. She looks no better than he does, save for the fact that she hasn’t shed any tears. Not yet.

 

“Thanks,” Nico says, as he watches them. Reyna lifts her head up from his shoulder and looks at him. “For everything, Reyna. For making me feel like, uh...” it’s difficult to say. He looks at the ground, eyes darting every which way, “like...”

 

Reyna merely threads her fingers through his. “Thank you for being my home away from home, Nico. What’s mine will always be yours. You have a bed in New Rome whenever you’d like to stay.” She bites her lip as her mind conjures up dozens of possibilities. “I would like it if you... stayed. There’s school and training. You could—“

 

Nico can’t speak, throat closed, and he leans into her, needing support. Reyna gives it to him, and her embrace is firm and warm, steady. She feels the fabric at her shoulder grow damp.

 

“You’re home,” she tells him. Nico shakes against her with the force of an earthquake.

 

*

 

“I think we should break up,” says Piper McLean, as she and Jason Grace sit next to one another on his bed. There’s a gap between them they’d subconsciously reserved for someone else. The air in the Zeus Cabin is cold compared to the warm, summery atmosphere outside. “I care about you but... it's a lot right now.”

 

Jason lets loose a shaky breath, and when he doesn’t reply, she leaves, deciding to give him time. Her shoes thump against the floor, door clicking shut silently. The massive white walls and the silence threaten to swallow Jason whole, and his fingers tighten on the sheets, shoulders hunching as his eyes flutter shut.

 

*

 

In the end, many of the Seven go their separate ways. Annabeth and Piper end up spending the rest of their summer at  Camp Half-Blood, helping rebuild and get their respective cabins settled back in. Percy heads back home to the arms of his worried mother after Annabeth reassures him that he deserves a rest. They could handle everything there.

 

“You do too, you know,” Reyna says, as Percy disappears over the hill, and both girls are left alone. “You both deserve a lot of rest.”

 

Annabeth touches a mark at the back of her wrist, thinking of Tartarus and its horrors no doubt. Reyna looks at her arms, her legs under those shorts. The wounds have healed thanks to ambrosia and nectar, but they couldn’t erase the scars. They line her body like an unblended acrylic painting. “I’ll retire when I’m dead,” she says, blunt, and Reyna laughs in a huff through her nose, her lips spreading into a smile. Despite the dark thoughts in her head, Annabeth looks up at her. Her stormy grey eyes are sweet and appreciative. 

 

Reyna swallows something in her throat, face heating under the weight of her stare. 

 

“I’m going to miss you,” Annabeth says, and Reyna feels her fingers skimming along her wrist, unsure. She closes the gap and takes both of Annabeth’s hands in hers. 

 

“And I you.” It’s firm, steady, until _you,_ when Annabeth pulls her into a hug. Her arms are tight around her as she buries her face into Reyna’s shoulder. She smells of sweat but Reyna doesn’t mind, just contents herself with being able to hold her too.

 

“I wish you could stay for longer,” Annabeth mutters, pulling away, “I was hoping I could stop by New Rome during the holidays, since I’m going to be studying with Percy in NYU.”

 

“Principia's doors are always open to you.” Reyna grins. “Don’t tell the other campers, though. They’ll have to sleep in the barracks.” Her smile fades a little bit. “I’d visit if being Praetor weren’t a full time job.”

 

“Get yourself a vacation, Reyna. Jeez. This year’s been rough.”

 

“That’s an understatement,” Reyna sighs. They start walking back towards Camp, passing by Peleus. In a few days’ time she and her troops would be home and things would go back to normal. Frank would take Jason’s old room in Principia. She’d have to rally the legionnaires, get them back on schedule. Those with families on the outside would leave Camp Jupiter and New Rome for the school year. Things would be okay.

 

*

 

“Reyna,” Jason tries to catch her attention before she leaves, the sun setting orange in the sky. While the Romans are boarding the vans intended to make the trek back to San Francisco, she goes off to one side with him.

 

“Hey, Jason,” she says. She must’ve had a growth spurt over the summer because she’s almost at eye-level with him, only an inch or two shorter now. “What’s up?”

 

“Um… be safe, okay?” He smiles wanly. An awkward silence stretches out between them.

 

“You… too....” she tries. They’ve gotten so out of sync.

 

Jason sighs frustratedly, glaring at the floor. “This is so weird. I’m making it so weird. I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. For everything. For hurting you and--”

 

“Praetor Reyna!” One of the kids hollers from one of the vans and reaches over the seat to honk the horn several times. “Can I have the aux cord?” Someone groans. 

 

“Just a minute!” Reyna calls back, and turns towards him again, only now Nico’s racing down Half-Blood Hill with Will Solace at his heels, the latter shouting something mildly disgruntled at him. Jason takes a step away from her and they both watch as the black figure grows closer and closer, amusement in both of their eyes. Nico almost crashes into her and squeezes her tightly with a huge hug, his face buried into her shoulder. He tries to catch his breath and Reyna takes that as her chance to speak

 

“Make sure you IM me at _least_ once a week, and Hazel and I called dibs on having you over for Christmas--” she shoots Jason a pointed look and he rolls his eyes. “Eat and rest because I think any one of these days you’re going to collapse--” 

 

“Thank you!” Will says.

 

“--You can come visit anytime Nico, stay too. I’ll clear my and Hazel’s schedule so we can spend time together. Oh! And I’ll mail you the laptop and textbooks so you don’t have to call yourself a middle school dropout anymore--”

 

“Okay, okay!” Nico smiles up at her a little and the very sight makes Reyna beam like the sun. “Stop treating me like I’m your little brother.”

 

“It’s my _responsibility_ ,” Reyna says matter-of-factly, but they both know she’s only joking. They look at one another and she laughs, bringing him back into a hug. “But really… I’ll miss you, Nico. Take care of yourself.”

 

“You too,” Nico says, “don’t work yourself into a slump.”

 

“I promise I won’t. Did you see Hazel?”

 

“We said goodbye this morning.” Nico’s eyes get a little sad. “I’ll go whenever I can. And if I can afford a plane ticket. I can’t shadow-travel like that anymore, or at least not for a while.” He looks up at her. “I’ll see you around. Will and I are going to get dinner.”

 

“See you.”

 

The engines of the vans thrum to life as Reyna watches him go.

 

“I wasn’t kidding, you know. About the IMs,” she says.

 

“Huh?” Jason looks at her.

 

“We do… have a lot of things to talk about, Jason. I have to go, but… talk to me when you’re ready.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey gays.................guess who's back,,,, that's right,,,, its moi. life exploded in my face for a second there but I promise the regular updates will return in another week or two. u w u love y'all thank u for the sweet comments

**Author's Note:**

> **Title based off of AJR's Turning Out.
> 
> Thanks for reading guys! Drop a comment with a review and leave kudos if you'd like. This'll be updating weekly. (: <3


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